EA kills off NBA Elite 11

Word has come from Electronic Arts that the delayed release of NBA Elite 11 has now ended in cancellation of the title. While the killing off of this version does not spell the end of the franchise, EA will instead be moving development of the franchise to Tiburon, which is the same studio that handles the Madden franchise as well as other recent releases (including the recently released MMA offering and the Fight Night franchise).

NBA Elite 11 marked a new direction for the franchise, which featured a significant new change in the player control as well as other key elements. When the demo was released, the comments were brutal, and so much so that EA moved to delay the release of the title while they went back to the drawing board to see what could be done to set things right and get the title out the door.

The decision to move the franchise to Tiburon is also resulting in what EA is calling a personnel restructuring that is resulting in some job losses. While EA is spinning the decision as being made in the name of cost-efficiency, the reality is that jobs are being lost; and it is possible that some studios that have done development for EA on a number of franchises will also be re-evaluated.

Perhaps the best news out of the decision to delay NBA Elite 11 is that the new NBA Jam release will be coming out as a full box release for both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Originally, it was announced that the new NBA Jam for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 would only be offered as a download to those that purchased NBA Elite 11. Now, the new boxed release of NBA Elite 11 will be set to arrive on November 15th for $50 and will include all of the features in the Wii version plus multiplayer for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 buyers.